Downtown Milan may be seeing a $3 million, three-story retail and residential development on one of the city's oldest blocks if one developer and business owner's plans pan out.
David Snyder's plan has the blessing of city officials, but there are still details to be worked out, including transferring ownership of the property, which is a foreclosure, and finding a major tenant.
Still everyone is proceeding with the goal of starting renovations this summer. They are helping Snyder, an Ypsilanti resident who is co-owner of the popular Milan Bakery, obtain local, state and federal tax credits, grants and abatements to restore the early 1890s-era building on Main and Wabash streets.
The anchor of the building is the Milan Bakery, which Snyder co-owns with nephew Jamey Snyder. The bakery, which does a thriving business with locals and has a food contract with the University of Michigan, has already expanded and will expand again.
There is a push to find a large restaurant to move into a 5,000-square-foot space near the bakery, giving Milan a destination business for locals and residents in the neighboring community. There is also room for other retail establishments to fill in the buildings on the block, with the upper floors being used for rental apartments.
Snyder says the impetus of his investment is keeping the family bakery a success, but he would also like to see Milan become a downtown Main Street draw similar to Chelsea and other nearby communities.
Source: David Snyder, president, Main & Wabash LLC
Writer: Kim North Shine
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